Hentch-Forth.Five

Halloween '92 - three drunk kids living in the past decide to pick up instruments and start playing some gigs as the Henchmen on a jag. Early '98 - Italy releases the first White Stripes 45 and the umpteenth 45 for the Henchmen, 'Some Other Guy' B&W 'Psycho Daisies', featuring Jack White on lead guitar and vocals in his spare time between 2 Star Tabernacle, the Go, and his 'little project,' the aforementioned White Stripes. Having a regular old ball in the studio, the boys decide to record a nine-song LP, Hentch-Forth and an instrumental 45, 'Ham and Oil', this time with White on bass and backup vocals. Fast-forward nine years, all the way into the next century (to today) - the Henchmen jump on board with the digital age, transfer the tapes, remix and remaster with a touch up here and there. Finally, Hentch-Forth sounds as it was intended. Add all four single tracks in their entirety and one unreleased out-take, and you have yourself Hentch-Forth. Five. This release crystallizes a time before the White Stripe international explosion, when Detroit's music scene was an incestuous miasma of band-hopping, Benedryl buzzing, and pre-MySpace/real sex. The Henchmen's sound was an imagined 1965 - organ-fueled rock of the purest kind, influenced by things like the Trash men, the Sonics, DEVO, early Damned - only more rare. Though White lived in an imagined 1865 (the year of the Gentleman), his nascent guitar blisterings, basspertise, and blues child voice gelled well with the threesome's fraternal chug. The reissue of Hentch-Forth. Five on compact disc will be welcomed by Stripes fans, Hentch acolytes, and many in between.